The Original Cause of making Proxies.
§ 1.
There was no liberty given at the Institution of the Order, for a Knight-Subject to be installed by his Proctor or Deputy; but on the contrary, in the Founder’s Statutes was inserted this express Prohibition. That none of the Knights elect should be permitted to be installed by Proxy, unless he were a Stranger. And this Law continued unaltered till the Reign of Henry V. when John Duke of Bedford, the Sovereign’s Deputy for holding the Feast of St. George at Windsor, 7 Henry V. and other the Knights-Companions then present, took it into Consideration; that where a Knight-Subject, elected into the Order, was at that Time employed beyond Sea, in the Service of his Prince, and likely to continue in that Service some time, it was agreed, that the said Duke should make an Address to the Sovereign, by Letters under the Seal of the Order, (he being then employed in the War against France,) that in the like cases his Majesty would Ordain, That Knights-Subjects might, as well as Strangers, be admitted into the Order, notwithstanding the Clause in the Statutes.
It likewise appears from that Letter, as well as from the Blue-Book, that Sir John Grey, and the Lord Bourchier, had been installed at the aforesaid Feast, by their several Proxies; which the Sovereign’s Deputy concurr’d with, out of great Respect to their Persons; lest by a too rigid Observance of the Statutes, by their absence in the Wars, where they were then loyally employed, and might meet their Deaths, they should want the desired Suffrages of those Masses, ordained to be Sung for a defunct Knight; as had happen’d to several by unsuspected delays. But to clear this matter, for the future it was Decreed, 9 Hen. V. That where any elect Knight was actually in the Sovereign’s Wars, or otherwise employed Abroad on his Sovereign’s Affairs, he should possess the Privilege of a Stranger in this particular; which Decree was added to King Henry Vth’s Statutes. And it was soon after enjoined the elect Knight, on notice of his Election, to take care timely to appoint his Proctor, that he might enjoy the Rights and Privileges of a Founder: Such an Obligation was laid on Sir John Falstaff, who, at the reception of the Garter, was in France, employed in the Sovereign’s Service.
But King Henry VIII. besides his Confirmation of this Decree, for allowance of a Proxy in the aforesaid two Cases, farther enlarged it, to such as the Sovereign should either Command, or permit Licence to be installed by Proxy, which is to be understood of Knights elect within the Kingdom, as well as those beyond Sea: By Virtue of which Clause, the elect Knight, the Earl of Dorset being Sick, 1 Car. I. obtained the Sovereign’s Licence to be installed by his Deputy Sir Richard Young.
Letters of Procuration.
§ 2. It is observed before, out of the Registrum Chartaceum, that Sir John Robesart, elected into the Order by King Henry V. was installed by Virtue of his Letter Missive, sent to Sir Thomas Barr his Proxy; but the same Register calls it, in another Place, a sufficient Procuration under his Seal of Arms, enabling him to perform the Ceremony of his Installation.
The Copy of this Instrument is not extant; but that Letter Missive Sir John Grey directed to Sir John Lisle, to take Possession of his Stall, and by Virtue of which he was installed, tells him he had Chosen him for his Proxy, and to take his Stall for him in his Name, &c. And omitting other Precedents, doubtless, in the case of a Knight-Subject, the Sovereign may, if he pleases, nominate and appoint a Proxy for Installation, where the elect Knight hath not done it himself; for here, all those Considerations of grand Respect, Forms of the Oath, &c. constantly afforded to Strangers, have no Place; which is evident from the Sovereign’s Letters of Summons to the Commissioners named for Installation of the Lord Grey, 4 and 5 Phil. and Mar. who at that time was Prisoner in France, and his Deputy Sir Humphry Radcliffe, is therein mentioned to be appointed by the Sovereign herself.
The first Precedent of Letters of Procuration, or Deputation, drawn into a solemn Form, is that made by Sir William Phelip, 5 Hen. V. by which, having obtained the Sovereign’s Licence, he impowers two Knights, Sir Andrew Butrely, and Sir John Henington, or either of them, as their Business would permit, to supply his Place, and take Possession of his Stall, in the Choir at Windsor.